1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display device and an image display program storage medium storing an image display program for displaying a medical image representing a photographed subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the medical field, it is widely practiced to utilize medical images representing a photographed internal body of a subject by using radiation or the like for the diagnosis of symptoms of the subject. Utilizing the medical images for the diagnosis enables a person in the medical field to grasp the stages of symptoms of the subject or the like without causing any outer damage to the subject and thus obtain necessary information to determine treatment plans or the like.
Further, in recent years, such devices as CR (Computed Radiography) for obtaining digitalized medical images by using radiation, CT (Computerized Tomography) for obtaining cross-sectional images of the subject by using radiography, and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) for obtaining cross-sectional images of the subject by using strong magnetic fields are becoming widely used, and digitalized medical images are becoming commonly used instead of medical images using conventional X-ray films or the like. With the digitalization of medical images, it is possible to collectively manage the medical images together with a digitalized medical record of the subject, and to share the medical image and record among multiple hospitals or the like via network. Thus, even though a clinic or a hospital where the subject gets treatment is changed, the medical images and the medical record showing the latest history of disease of the subject can be utilized.
Here, in general, the medical images photographed at the time of examination are usually stored along with the medical record or the like categorized by each subject, and at the time of actual diagnosis, interpretation of radiogram is performed by arranging multiple medical images photographed at different times on a monitor. This interpretation of radiogram enables easy confirmation of change in the size of lesion or the like and is one of very useful methods for diagnosing symptoms and the effect of medical treatments.
Additionally, a technique is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-014928, which displays multiple medical images arranged on the monitor and, if any attention point is specified on these medical images, clips an attention area in a certain size by centering around the attention point and magnifies it on the monitor. According to the technique described in this Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-014928, when a point considered as lesion is specified, an image portion of the specified point is automatically magnified, which makes the comparison of size of the lesion easier.
However, with the technique described in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-014928, there is a concern that, when large lesion extends beyond the attention area, the shape and size of the lesion becomes hard to be recognized. In cases like this, a user needs to reset each of the attention area manually, which takes a lot of labor and time.